Editor's note: G. Michelle Lewis is a digital producer at the Asbury Park Press and is a first-generation Haitian American. She took her first trip to Haiti in 2013 and fell in love with her family's country. She plans to visit again in 2018 with her husband.

Dear President Trump,

It’s a shame. Despite the history of foul things that have come out of your mouth, I still was surprised to hear your reported comments about me and my family.

You say that you have a wonderful relationship with me, but it seems as if you don’t know me at all. If you did, you wouldn’t have called my country a "s---hole."

You do know that Haiti was once called the Jewel of the Caribbean, don’t you?

Despite the devastation that has hit the land in recent years, it is still one of the most beautiful pieces of this earth you’ll ever see. The mountains are lush, green and if you travel high enough, they look as if they touch the clouds.

Have you visited? If not, it seems that you’ve been a victim of what you like to call the “fake news” media telling you that Haiti is only a land of devastation. Haiti is so much more than that, Mr. President.

The mountains of Haiti(Photo: G.Michelle Lewis)

You posed the question, “Why do we want people from Haiti here?” I’ll tell you.

We are some of the most resilient people. I see that resiliency in myself and in my family daily. Both of my parents immigrated to the United States from Haiti in the 1980s. They left their homes, their families, and everything that was familiar to them to come to the U.S. in search of better opportunities.

They loved their country. They didn’t leave because it was a "s---hole." They came to the states eager to do whatever they had to do to achieve a piece of what they knew to be the “American dream.”

They came to a foreign place, learned a foreign language, started from the bottom, and worked tirelessly to better themselves so that they can in turn better this country, and their own, the one you called a s---hole. And they continue to do that to this day.

Wahoo Bay Beach in Carriès, Haiti(Photo: G. Michelle Lewis)

We are proud people. Hard work is not foreign to us, and we don’t expect to be given handouts.

My ancestors fought for their freedom (and some Americans' freedom, too) and became the first black republic on the Western Hemisphere to completely abolish slavery. We, sir, are strong people.

Toussaint Louverture, Jean-Baptiste Point DuSable, Rodolphe Lucien Desdunes, these are names that you probably are not familiar with, but these are just a few examples of Haitians who have shaped what you know to be America today.

Louverture led the Haitian Revolution and inspired millions of free and enslaved people of African descent to seek freedom and equality. DuSable was the first permanent settler of what we now know to be Chicago. And, Desdunes was a civil rights activist who worked on what is said to be the most important civil rights case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 19th century, Plessy v. Ferguson.

So, you see Mr. President, you asked why would you want people from that "s---hole" country to come here, and my answer is simple. America needs people like us.